


Friday, I'm in love

by argentumlupine



Series: Fall ficlets 2012 [4]
Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/argentumlupine/pseuds/argentumlupine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray and Frank try to adopt the same dog at the animal shelter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friday, I'm in love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [akamine_chan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/akamine_chan/gifts).



> I'm calling it fall ficlets posting amnesty day. I STARTED this fic in the fall, okay? I just couldn't get through the conflict part in time to post during the actual fall season. (Writing conflict is hard!) But this is the fourth of the stories I'd planned for this collection and I FINISHED IT, FINALLY. \o/ It is a not!fic because it worked better that way. So there.
> 
>  
> 
> For Aka, who also helped me find a title because she is awesome and wise. ♥

So Frank has been wanting a dog for AGES, right? He just hasn’t had the money or an apartment that would let him have a dog. But he moved into a first-floor apartment recently and they allow pets and he is GOING TO DO THIS, DAMN IT. He wants a dog so much. 

But... MONEY. 

So he tallies up the costs: pet deposit, adoption fees, vet fees, food, accessories. And he starts saving.

During the months he’s saving up he starts checking the websites of the local shelters. (He’d go in person, but he knows better. He’d never get out without a dog if he went in. Those big sad eyes would break him.) The puppies are cute, but he doesn’t want to deal with housebreaking. And anyway, puppies tend to get adopted. No. He wants to be the hero to an older dog, one who got the short end with their previous family and NEEDS him. 

So he looks at the older dogs, the uglier dogs, the ones with scary faces but sad eyes, the ones who have been at the shelter for months. 

Frank falls in love with Friday immediately.

Her legs are stumpy and she’s black and she has an underbite and she looks a little cross-eyed and the shelter says she’s some kind of cocker mix and is four years old and housebroken and sweet and he can’t even DEAL with how much he wants to drive over to the shelter RIGHT NOW and take her home. But he can’t afford to take care of her right now, so he doesn’t. 

Frank checks the shelter website obsessively, watching as other dogs get adopted and are removed from the site. He’s sad that no one else seems to see how great Friday is, but is secretly relieved. She is HIS. She just doesn’t know it yet. 

When he’s finally convinced he’s saved enough, Frank goes to talk to his landlady, pays his pet deposit, and checks the shelter website again. Friday is still listed. Frank calls the shelter first to be absolutely sure that she’s still there (she is) and that they’re open (they are) and that he can come adopt her (he can) before he grabs the collar and leash he bought for her and practically sprints out the door. 

The kid at the counter brightens immediately when Frank comes in asking about Friday. “Oh, hey!” the kid says. “Hey, right! You’re here for Friday? Awesome, great, that’s totally great. She’s the best. We’ve been hoping someone would take her home. She looks so sad and lonely, you know?” The kid comes out from behind the desk and ushers Frank toward the door labeled KENNELS. “Anyway, I’ll have the paperwork ready for you. Go on back, see how you like each other. And if you _don’t_ like each other, see if someone else back there suits you. I can tell you’re going to be an awesome dog owner. Don’t walk out of here without a dog!” The kid opens the door and gently pushes Frank through the doorway with a cheerful, “Friday’s down the left row, near the end, and my personal favorite, Tempo, is across from her. Go on, go on, make a dog happy. Shoo!”

As soon as Frank walks fully into the back room, a cacophony of barking greets him. He has to stop for a moment and close his eyes because… DOGS. He’s missed this, so much. Getting to see his mom’s dog once in a while just hasn’t been the same.

He wants to go down to Friday immediately, but he goes to the other row first, pausing to pet each of the dogs that comes to its gate. Some of them stare at him balefully and one gives a single thump of its tail before it puts its head down to go back to sleep. Most of them, though, come right to the gates and wag their tails. The puppies are unbearably cute, of course, and several others are almost as great as Friday. But Frank isn’t distracted. He keeps moving, coming around the corner toward Friday—

And trips over someone kneeling in front of Friday’s kennel. Frank crashes into the gate and grabs on, trying not to fall down. “Sorry, didn’t see you,” Frank says.

The guy brushes himself off, pushes curly hair out of his face, and stands. “It’s okay. I was just hanging out with Friday here.”

Frank looks down at Friday, who hadn’t run off when he’d crashed into the gate, and is sitting and wagging her tail, looking between the two of them. In person she is even goofier-looking than she’d been in her picture, and Frank drops to his knees to pet her. “She’s great, isn’t she?” he says. “I’m taking her home today, _finally_.” Friday leans into his hand when he scratches behind her ear.

“Oh.” 

Frank looks up quickly. The guy sounds _so disappointed_. “Yeah, had my eye on her for a while.”

The guy sighs and backs away. “Okay, then,” he says. Then stops. “No, no it’s not okay. I’ve been volunteering at the shelter for two weeks. Friday likes me. _I’m_ taking her home.”

Frank gets to his feet. “I’ve been checking her on the website for over a _month_. She’s mine.”

“Why didn’t you come get her sooner, then?”

“Why didn’t YOU take her home sooner? You’ve been here for two weeks, right?” Frank clenches his fists and steps into the guy’s space. The guy looks down at him and abruptly starts laughing. Frank wants to deck him. He manages to hold back. Barely.

“Okay, stop. Let’s start over.” The guy steps backward and holds up his hands. “Hi. I’m Ray. I’ve been volunteering here for a few weeks and I really like this dog and want to adopt her.” He looks expectantly at Frank.

Frank scowls. “I’m Frank. I’ve been saving up for a dog for a long time and have been looking at Friday on the shelter website for over a month. I really want to adopt her.” He folds his arms across his chest. “Looks like we’re stuck.”

They stand there for another minute or so, then Ray’s phone rings. He turns away to answer it. Frank seizes the opportunity to open Friday’s kennel and slip on the collar and leash he bought for her. When he turns around again, Ray is glaring at him. Frank sticks out his tongue. 

“Sorry, Mikey, I gotta go. This little asshole is trying to steal my dog.”

“HEY!” Frank cries. Then, “Wait, is that Mikey _Way_?”

Ray looks back at him. “Mikey, you know some tattooed punk named Frank?” Ray asks, then listens a moment. “Here,” he says, offering the phone to Frank. “He wants to talk to you.”

Frank takes the phone. “Mikeyway?”

“That’s TORO, dumbass. Ray Toro? Gerard’s friend? The guy I’ve been trying to set you up with but you’re always too ‘busy’ to meet?”

“Uh-huh?”

“Yeah. Work the dog thing out. And then go out with him.”

“Mikey—”

“I’m sick of your excuses. Dog. Date. Go.” Mikey hangs up on him. 

Frank stares at the phone for a moment before he hands it back to Ray. “He hung up.” He clutches at Friday’s leash. “Um. So you’re Ray Toro?”

“And you’re Frank Iero. Gerard and Mikey talk about you all the time.”

“All good, I hope?” Frank asks. 

“Mostly,” Ray says. “Mikey tells me you’ve been ‘busy’ on purpose every time I’ve tried to take you out. So here’s a solution to our Friday problem.” He leans down a little to look Frank in the eye. “You go out with me, at least twice, and I’ll back off and let you have Friday. Deal?”

“Should be mine anyway,” Frank mutters. 

“Says you. Well?”

Frank shrugs. “Sure,” he says, trying not to laugh in relief. “Sure, yeah, it’s a deal.” 

 

(And they go out and find out they are MFEO, and there is guitar-playing, and there is cuddling with and without Friday, and Gerard and Mikey roll their eyes and say “We TOLD YOU you’d be awesome together,” and they all live happily ever after, THE END.)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] Friday, I'm in love, by argentumlupine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2607080) by [TheOneCalledEli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOneCalledEli/pseuds/TheOneCalledEli)




End file.
